Served in a variety of drinks, espressos are made by machines that send pressurized hot water through finely-ground coffee beans—thus, the quality of the drink is dictated in large part by the quality of machine that brews it. Historically, the best espresso has been brewed in coffee shops with industrial-grade equipment. Today, continued innovation in the at-home espresso brewing industry has led to the creation of high-quality machines that can contend with some of the best baristas out there.

These organizations consider how long it takes you to brew the coffee, the social impact of the coffee maker, as well as the roasting ability of the coffee maker. The best coffee maker will be BPA free and certified. An SCAA certified coffee maker, for example, will be able to deliver water at optimum temperatures throughout the whole brewing process, without compromising the integrity of the coffee at any point.​

The gist: This "all-in-one" machine includes pretty much everything you need to make quality espresso, minus the beans. It's Amazon's choice for "espresso and cappuccino maker combos" and has a rating of 4.1 stars. It comes with its own electric bean-grinder, a 1.25 liter removable water tank, a measuring spoon and tamper, a stainless steel filter with two basket options, a stainless steel milk frothing cup, and two 3.6-ounce espresso cups. The machine brews espresso with 15 bars of pressure and with the Thermoblock fast heating system, it's ready to use in 45 seconds. The two portafilter baskets allow you to pull either a single or double shot drink.
Bring home this Cuisinart PerfecTemp 12-Cup Thermal Programmable Coffee Maker, which due to its dimensions can fit into small spaces in a neat manner. The coffee machine can be programmed, as per your personal preferences to make the best cup of coffee. The lid at the top of the coffee maker seals in the aroma of the coffee, whilst you brew it. The PerfecTemp 12-Cup Thermal Programmable Coffee Maker from Cuisinart is made from excellent quality materials, which lends it a sturdy and durable...
It also automatically pre-infuses the coffee, allowing the grounds to vent their CO2 and “bloom.” Remember, only half of the machines we tested had this feature, and it proved to pay off in our taste tests. The four machines we recommend all pre-infuse. Only one coffee maker without it, the Hamilton Beach, performed well at all in our taste tests — but that guy was so cheap and flimsy, part of the brew basket broke during our testing. Sorry, Hamilton Beach.
In the semi-automatic machine, water pressure and temperature must be stable and consistent, and according to our expert, the pressure shouldn't be too high. Typically, coffee is brewed at a pressure of about 10 bars, and an ideal water temperature is around 195 degrees. Generally, the more expensive the machine, the better the equipment inside that regulates these two factors. High-quality machines tend to have a mechanism called a PID, or proportional-integral-derivative, controller. The PID's function is to maintain constant water temperature with extreme accuracy, down to the degree. Two central problems plaguing inexpensive espresso machines is that they lack a PID, meaning the temperature of the brewing water can fluctuate up and down and yield inconsistent results. Inexpensive machines often advertise that they have 15 or 20 bars of pressure as a selling point. But, higher pressure is not the priority, and too much pressure can actually lead to over-extraction and bitterness in your espresso shot. Therefore, we looked for a machine with good temperature and pressure control.

Our bean-to-cup espresso machines are easy to clean, with front-accessible components and a removable water tank and drip tray for easy cleanup. Many of our machines also have indicators that remind you when it’s time to clean your espresso machine, so you don’t have to worry about a build-up of limescale putting strain on your machine. Our espresso machines are best cleaned using the De’Longhi descaling solution, which has been proven to be up to three times as effective as regular lime scale removers.

A refinement of the piston machine is the pump-driven machine, which was introduced in the Faema E61 in 1961, and has become the most popular design in commercial espresso bars. Instead of using manual force, a motor-driven pump provides the force necessary for espresso brewing. Espresso machines are made to accept water directly from a cold water line supply, common in commercial installations, or from a separate tank that must be filled with water by hand. The latter is more common with lower-volume commercial installations and domestic espresso machines. Due to the required high pumping pressure and precision flow control needed, the particular type of electric pumps typically used are known as solenoid-piston pumps. These pumps are classified as a positive displacement type (general category) of pump.

One of the most recognizable and best-selling K-Classic™ K55 Single-Serve K-Cup Pod Coffee Maker, the product blends original design and outstanding features into one popular package. The K-Classic™ coffee maker brews a delicious cup in under a minute at the touch of a button. With hundreds of delicious K-Cup® pod varieties – coffee, tea, hot cocoa, and iced beverages, there’s something for everyone to enjoy. Choose from multiple brew sizes – 6, 8, and 10 oz. – to create your...

Espresso machines can be intimidating. We wanted something that did not require reading a novel-sized manual, watching a lot of YouTube videos, or reading tons of articles about espresso pulling. Yes, making espresso does require some learning for the home brewer. That's part of the fun, but the machine shouldn't be discouraging and impossible to use out of the box.
Served in a variety of drinks, espressos are made by machines that send pressurized hot water through finely-ground coffee beans—thus, the quality of the drink is dictated in large part by the quality of machine that brews it. Historically, the best espresso has been brewed in coffee shops with industrial-grade equipment. Today, continued innovation in the at-home espresso brewing industry has led to the creation of high-quality machines that can contend with some of the best baristas out there.
Flavorful, hot beverages are a cornerstone of the restaurant industry. From quaint street-side coffee shops to chain restaurants and even bars, everyone needs a fresh java or tea at one point (or several) throughout the day. By following this buying guide, you can find the best hot beverage equipment to make sure your business is serving the drinks that'll turn one-time customers into regulars.
All the machines we tested came with either insulated carafes or glass pots with built-in warmers. Both have pros and cons. Glass pots are typically easier to clean because they tend to have wider mouths, and the lack of internal insulation means that glass pots will have a greater interior volume relative to its exterior volume — basically, it’s easier to get your hand or dish sponge into a glass pot. On the other hand, glass pots are more fragile and have to be heated from a base plate. In our tests, those base plates could even raise the temperature of the coffee, like with the CuisinArt, which can make coffee taste burnt.
The Scoop Single-Serve Coffeemaker goes where no coffeemaker has gone before, brewing hotter, faster and better-tasting coffee than most gourmet machines out there. And, its benefits don’t stop there. The Scoop Coffeemaker utilizes the simplicity of ground coffee and brews a customizable cup quickly: an 8 oz. cup in less than 90 seconds or a 14 oz. travel mug in under two-and-a-half minutes. Aside from its versatility in using inexpensive coffee grounds to brew a great-tasting cup, The...
The Breville's conical burr grinder, made of stainless steel, effortlessly grinds coffee beans and optimizes flavor extraction by maximizing the surface area of the grinds. A 54mm tamper ensures expert tamping control, and a hands-free grinding cradle leaves all the hard work to the machine. Our favorite features are the Breville's grind size/grind amount selector dials, which enable you to customize grinds from fine to coarse.
In France, in about 1710, the Infusion brewing process was introduced. This involved submersing the ground coffee, usually enclosed in a linen bag, in hot water and letting it steep or "infuse" until the desired strength brew was achieved. Nevertheless, throughout the 19th and even the early 20th centuries, it was considered adequate to add ground coffee to hot water in a pot or pan, boil it until it smelled right, and pour the brew into a cup.
The Scoop Single-Serve Coffeemaker goes where no coffeemaker has gone before, brewing hotter, faster and better-tasting coffee than most gourmet machines out there. And, its benefits don’t stop there. The Scoop Coffeemaker utilizes the simplicity of ground coffee and brews a customizable cup quickly: an 8 oz. cup in less than 90 seconds or a 14 oz. travel mug in under two-and-a-half minutes. Aside from its versatility in using inexpensive coffee grounds to brew a great-tasting cup, The...
Our top pick is the OXO On 12-Cup Coffee Brewing System. It’s a large machine – both in footprint and in capacity — but it earned the second-highest scores in our taste test, and is sleek both to look at and to operate. Convenient features like programmable auto-brewing, a removable water reservoir that doubles as a kettle, and a spigot that stops the brew mid-stream if you remove the carafe make this machine feel high tech without being high maintenance. For those who want to be a little more hands-on with the brewing process, its single-button dial also lets you adjust the water’s brewing temperature, giving you more access to experiment with extraction and flavor.
Expert reviewers and buyers alike love this espresso machine. BravoTV wrote a review explaining why it's worth the money even though it's pricey. Indeed, when you do the math to calculate just how much money you spend over the course of a year on espresso, cappuccinos, and other high-end coffee drinks, you'll see just how much money this admittedly expensive machine will save you in the long run.
Here at Seattle Coffee Gear, we are proud to carry an extensive selection of at-home and commercial espresso machines at some of the internet’s most affordable prices to help our customers brew excellent espressos from anywhere. Read on to learn more about the benefits and features of the espresso machines in our inventory, and place your order with us today!
"If I could give this more than 5 stars I would. I love espresso drinks from coffee shops, I used to drink just regular coffee but when I quit smoking the taste changed just enough that I didn't like it anymore. Mexican mochas on the other hand I still found palatable. But they're about 5 bucks a pop at my local coffee shop. I also didn't want to spend 150$+ on an espresso machine, they seem prone to breaking and judging by the reviews never really work right. So I settled on this, figuring I would try it and if it didn't make what I wanted I'd only be out about 30 bucks. It makes delicious coffee. Put some full city roast in their and fire it up and what comes out is espresso. From my readings I've gathered that its not actually espresso, as the Moka pot doesn't make enough pressure for it to be real espresso. But its playing the part convincingly, I can't tell the difference between what comes out of this and a shot of espresso. Its paid for itself a dozen times over at this point. Absolutely one of the best purchases I've ever made. I couldn't be happier."

Help yourself to cafe-quality coffee every morning. Whether you're brewing coffee for two or making enough coffee for family and friends, the Hamilton Beach 12-Cup Programmable Coffee Maker is the perfect size and offers many features to fit your brewing needs. This full-size coffee maker looks great on the counter with a stainless steel design that fits right in with any kitchen.

These organizations consider how long it takes you to brew the coffee, the social impact of the coffee maker, as well as the roasting ability of the coffee maker. The best coffee maker will be BPA free and certified. An SCAA certified coffee maker, for example, will be able to deliver water at optimum temperatures throughout the whole brewing process, without compromising the integrity of the coffee at any point.​

It scored the highest in our out-of-the-box taste test, brewing coffee our tasters described as “light” with subtle notes of blueberry, citrus, cherry, tobacco, and hazelnut. The machine simply brews great coffee, and it takes its job seriously. If you’re interested in playing around with the flavor and extraction of your roast, the Behmor Brazen gives you more access to more variables. You can adjust water temperature, play with pre-infusion times (15 seconds to four minutes) — it even has you enter your altitude to better determine water’s boiling point, and calibrate its internal thermometer during setup.

This product brings easy brewing and convenient cleaning to your countertop. With the brew-pause feature, you can sneak a cup while the coffee maker is still brewing without interrupting the process. The keep-warm function keeps your coffee nice and warm so you can come back again and again to a fresh-tasting cup. An easy cleaning cycle and durable dishwasher safe carafe help to reduce the time you spend cleaning up.
Pierce's design was later improved by U.S. appliance engineers Ivar Jepson, Ludvik Koci, and Eric Bylund of Sunbeam in the late 1930s. They altered the heating chamber and eliminated the recessed well which was hard to clean. They also made several improvements to the filtering mechanism. Their improved design of plated metals, styled by industrial designer Alfonso Iannelli, became the famous Sunbeam Coffeemaster line of automated vacuum coffee makers (Models C-20, C-30, C40, and C-50). The Coffeemaster vacuum brewer was sold in large numbers in the United States during the years immediately following World War I.
*When you buy a machine with coffee credits you will receive a code with credits to buy coffee from curated roasters in the Spinn app. The credits will be uploaded in your account settings of the app. The credits allow for easy browsing and discovery of local and national coffee roasters. The credits will be used for automatically ordering when your Spinn machine is running low.
Semi-automatic espresso machines are just that—semi-automatic. Some of the steps are automated, but many are not. This allows the user to put their personal stamp on the final product but without doing some of the tedious steps that are involved in making an espresso on the stove top. Here’s a look at some of the features that make a semi-automatic espresso machine such a great pickup for the ultimate espresso lover:
First, of all of the espresso machines we tested, the two Breville models are the only ones that contain the above-mentioned PID for extremely precise temperature control. This means that the machine consistently pulled a slightly-sweet, creamy shot of espresso. It had plenty of crema on top. Another reason this machine pulls such a consistently wonderful shot is that it maintains consistent pressure—where other machines made bitter, flat-tasting shots, the consistent pressure of the Breville machine meant the espresso was flavorful and delicious.
CR’s take: Our highest-rated drip brewer with an insulated, thermal carafe, the Ninja Bar Brewer CF085 has plenty to recommend it. CR’s testers find that it offers superb brew performance and is very easy to use. In our member surveys, Ninja drip coffee makers received an Excellent rating for owner satisfaction. (We don’t yet have enough data to judge reliability.) This model has a full suite of features, including an unusual over-ice brew mode for making iced coffee. Ninja claims its thermal carafe will keep coffee hot for 2 hours, and the machine comes with a milk frother and a standalone French-press brewer. These features come at a price, of course; the Ninja Bar Brewer is the second most expensive model on this list.